Do Cool Sh*t (26 page)

I should also quickly mention that there are some great ancillary benefits that stem from volunteering
.
Some of the ones you might discover yourself are that:

• You will meet other like-minded, caring humans and start new friendships.
  
• Maybe you’ll find love when you volunteer.
  
• You can deepen your existing relationships. For example, ask a coworker or new friend to go with you to volunteer and you will see how much stronger your friendship or relationship will become.
  

Do Cool Shit Task

Volunteer somewhere. Don’t delay! Identify an issue you care about and seek it out. There are often multiple ways to volunteer, such as by serving meals at a local mission or church, providing tutoring or mentorship to a young girl or boy, or by helping the elderly in your neighborhood. Once you have the chance to serve, see how you feel once you’re done.

I bet that once you start, you will want to increase the frequency, so all I am asking you to do is just volunteer once! Go and help a cause that means something to you and it may very well create an awesome pattern for yourself and others! And once you do, I want to hear all about it, so please post your experience on docoolshit.org.

19

YOU ARE AS COOL AS THE FRIENDS YOU KEEP

What Cool Shit My Friends Are Up To

Questions are eternal. The answers are temporary.

—D
R
. D
EB

O
ne of my favorite sayings goes, “I am who I am because of who we all are.” I am really happy with the people I spend most of my time with. I am inspired, motivated, and rejuvenated by them; most of all, I am excited to learn from them.

I asked these people the same five questions to see how similar or different their answers would be. I got an interesting array of responses, which I will share with you now.

1. What does “doing cool shit” mean to you?

2. What cool shit are you up to? And what cool shit are you planning in the future?

3. What was the most important lesson you’ve learned about doing cool shit in business?

4. What is the best life advice you can give to help someone else do cool shit?

5. What was the moment in your life that made you realize that you could stray from the norm and do cool shit?

TIM FERRISS—AUTHOR OF
THE 4-HOUR WORKWEEK
AND
THE 4-HOUR BODY

I met Tim at Summit at Sea. We bonded while canoeing in the Bahamas together. He’s the author of
The 4-Hour Workweek
, which is an international bestseller and incredibly entertaining book about how to kick ass efficiently in business and how to also do cool shit in life, like win at the World Tango Dancing Championship. He is a master with words, and I am fascinated by the way he thinks. See for yourself.

1. What does “doing cool shit” mean to you?

To me, “doing cool shit” has two parts. Part one: focusing my time—the most valuable nonrenewable resource—on things that get me really excited. As Derek Sivers would say: The response has to be “No” or “Hell yes!” and nothing in between.

Part two: teaching others to do the same in a scalable way. This leads to some really uncommon and awesome outcomes, whether for-profit, nonprofit, or not-thinking-of-profit. My general guiding tenet is from Mark Twain: “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect.”

2. What cool shit are you up to? And what cool shit are you planning in the future?

Trying to scale education reform by advising start-ups like Donors
Choose.org. Disrupting big industries and creating new industries by advising other for-profit start-ups like Uber, Evernote, and perhaps fifteen others. These founders all keep me on my toes. Entrepreneurship is a full-contact sport.

3. What was the most important lesson you’ve learned about doing cool shit in business?

There’s no one path to success, but there is one sure path to failure: trying to make everyone happy. I learned that from Bill Cosby, actually. He is incredible. Watch the documentary
Comedian
for examples.

4. What is the best life advice you can give to help someone else do cool shit?

Besides what I’ve already mentioned: you are the average of the five people you associate with most.

5. What was the moment in your life that made you realize that you could stray from the norm and do cool shit on your own?

Probably when I held my first accelerated learning seminar during college. I’d been making $6 to $8 an hour working in the attic of a library all semester beforehand. Then I sold out the three-hour seminar—thirty or so seats at $50 a pop—for a total of $1,500. I remember getting on my bike afterward, feeling as if I were floating on air. It was like a dream, a hallucination. I had loose change and handwritten checks stuffed in all my pockets and bunched up in my fists, even as I rode. I’ve never felt richer.

In retrospect, it wasn’t just the money. I was creating something from nothing that got me high. And that’s a drug I’m willing to sell.

ELLIOTT BISNOW—FOUNDER OF SUMMIT SERIES

I met Elliott on the boat at his conference. My experience at Summit at Sea brought me more fantastic relationships with like-minded people than ever before. I cannot be more grateful to Elliott for creating a fun environment for excited entrepreneurs looking forward to making a positive impact in the world.

1. What does “doing cool shit” mean to you?

It means thinking big. In fact, thinking bigger than you ever thought possible. Building businesses or organizations that can truly affect the world and change neighborhoods, cities, or even entire industries. We are in the midst of an entrepreneurial revolution and opportunities are everywhere to affect those around you. Think big.

2. What cool shit are you up to? And what cool shit are you planning in the future?

Summit, the company which I started, is purchasing Powder Mountain, the largest ski resort by acreage in North America. We think that we can not only preserve the heritage and culture of this iconic and beloved ski resort but also that on the backside of the mountain, we can build a community for entrepreneurs and thinkers who are making a positive impact on the world.

3. What was the most important lesson you’ve learned about doing cool shit in business?

Waking up early, putting in fifteen hours a day and leaving your heart and soul on the table only works if you love what you’re doing. Doing incredible and cool work allows you to put all your effort and energy into the project because you truly are in love with what you’re doing and the impact you’re having.

4. What is the best life advice you can give to help someone else do cool shit?

Think big. At Summit, we always ask ourselves how we can think bigger. Keep pushing. Keep believing. Take what you’re working on and push it to the next level. Believe in your vision and go for it.

5. What was the moment in your life that made you realize that you could stray from the norm and do cool shit on your own?

Freshman year of college I met the resident adviser for my dorms. He lived on the floor below me. One day I saw him screen printing T-shirts, and he explained to me how he had his own business. I was blown away someone could start their own company. I’d never actually seen someone have one at my age. From there, I dreamed of being an entrepreneur every day.

MARIE FORLEO—FOUNDER OF MARIEFORLEO.COM AND RHH B-SCHOOL

I met Marie at a Crunch Gym in the West Village when I was doing a pizza tasting for gym members. She came up to my table and asked me immediately if I was the owner. I said, “Why yes, I am,” and she said, “I knew it! You act like it.” And then we chatted for a little while and exchanged numbers. She sent me a text a few minutes later saying, “This may sound really weird, but I think we were meant to be friends.” I remember smiling reading that. The very next day, my friend Heather invited me to a small intimate birthday dinner with eight people and I sat down and introduced myself to everyone. I looked to my right and couldn’t believe who it was: Marie. We both looked at each other and burst out laughing. And then we hugged. And we’ve been friends ever since. Out of the entire city, of all the birthday parties and dinners going on, we both found ourselves at the same one, the day after we met. Marie has a successful company called Rich Happy and Hot and has her own online business school for women who want to start their own businesses.

1. What does “doing cool shit” mean to you?

Living and creating exactly how you want to. It’s about choosing to spend your time and resources on projects that light you up and being unapologetic about saying no to everything else.

2. What cool shit are you up to? And what cool shit are you planning in the future?

Creating the world’s most enjoyable and effective school for modern entrepreneurs at JoinBschool.com, using a portion of profits to build schools with Pencils of Promise, and continuing to grow and expand our weekly inspirational and educational show at MarieTV.com—we now have viewers in virtually every country in the world.

3. What was the most important lesson you’ve learned about doing cool shit in business?

Mastering how to market your products and services with heart, soul, and transparency is the most valuable skill you can have if you want to succeed in business and make a positive impact on the world.

4. What is the best life advice you can give to help someone else do cool shit?

Everything is figure-out-able. No longer can you let the excuse of not knowing how to do something stop you. Just go online and Google that shit up! Thanks to the Internet, mobiles, and social media, we now have the world (and each other) at our fingertips. No matter what you want to learn, explore, or create, you have power to figure it out and make it happen.

5. What was the moment in your life that made you realize that you could stray from the norm and do cool shit on your own?

It was the early 2000s in NYC. At about 2:30 a.m., I came home from bartending, opened my e-mail, and saw that I sold my first e-book online. That moment made me realize I could use my imagination, my passion, and the power of technology to change lives around the world and earn a great living while I did something I truly believed in.

SOPHIA BUSH—ACTRESS AND SPOKESPERSON

I met Sophia on a small boat on my way to a tiny island off the coast of Panama over New Year’s 2013. Thirty friends and friends of friends adventured together for an unforgettable trip to San Blas Islands for four days of fun in the sun.

I’ll always remember her dimples when she smiled and introduced herself to me. I didn’t recognize her because I never grew up watching much television, but I found out that she was a lead in the show
One Tree Hill
, an American series that ran for nine seasons. She is still acting and is a spokesperson for several charities.

1. What does “doing cool shit” mean to you?

Cool shit, to me, is positive disruption. It shakes things up. That can be on a personal level, a community level, or even a global level. What are you doing, or making, that’s making the world around you a better place? You can be making dinner for friends or inventing something. All of this pushes us in a direction of positivity.

2. What cool shit are you up to? And what cool shit are you planning in the future?

For the first time in a decade I’ve paused. I am pursuing my passions, not just my career. I’ve taken the last few months to really answer a valuable question for myself: “What do you
want
to do today?” I’ve begun writing again. I am traveling for my favorite philanthropies and organizations. I just opened two schools that I built with Pencils of Promise in Guatemala. I am advising and investing in tech companies, and I am chasing the sun around the globe. Very cool shit. My plan from here on out is to deepen my effectiveness as an activist, an adviser, and a creator in all walks of my life.

3. What was the most important lesson you’ve learned about doing cool shit in business?

You have to do the thing, or things, that keep you up at night. Working toward a paycheck is what the world teaches us to do. But if you work on your
life
, on the things that light a fire in you, the money will come while you are creating real change or goodness; while you are making things that matter. I have started asking myself two questions: “What makes you angry?” As in, what makes you want to storm the castle in this world? And “What makes you so excited that you can talk about it for hours?” The answers to those questions are the things I’m choosing to pursue.